But That Was Then
by emif
Summary: Jounouchi finally has it together... for the most part. But when his father decides to leave a message out of the blue. Jou's life is turned a little upside down. Jounouchi background fic with slash later on.
1. Unexpected Caller

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yugioh. A variety of people do at this point depending on the country, mostly 4Kids and Shonen Jump.

**A/N: **A buddyshipping and Jounouchi background fic. I had to do it. I mean it is only the greatest pairing the world has ever known and Mr. J needs attention.

Okay, something called NHK is mentioned that would be the Nippon Hoosoo Kyookai which is basically the PBS of Japan only it shows anime. It's a general public station that depending on the day and time shows everything from sumo to soaps, anime to news. Much like NBC in America and BBC in Britain. It's a small world after all.

**But That Was Then  
****Chapter 1: Unexpected Caller**

Honda pushed the door of the apartment open with his back. His hands were full of various books, papers and some disagreeable mechanical pencils. He had to admit that the workload of university had taken him by surprise. He was carrying more than he ever did in secondary school to and from the apartment which was quite the balancing act on his motorcycle. He looked over into the small apartment. Blanky, his aging German Shepard, cocked her head toward him as she rested on the sofa. She was over a decade old now and no longer bounced around at her master's every return. She lifted her head for the arm of the sofa and perked her ears. "Jou gone, girl?"

Blanky whined a little and hobbled off of the sofa. Jounouchi Katsuya was out at the moment. He had never graduated from Domino Secondary school. He just stopped paying the tuition and didn't come back some time in his fourth year.

Honda had disapproved but there wasn't much he could have done. Jou was a grown man after all. He couldn't tell him what to do like his mother. Well, more like his mother should have. Messy family to say the least. Honda put his text and notebooks down on the small table used as a dining room and threw down his backpack. He knew that a good three hours of homework were ahead of him but he wasn't up to it at that moment. The heavy work load of school and making sure that Jounouchi didn't run away to do who knows what was taking its toll on the college student.

He sighed and pet his elderly dog on the head as she looked up at him, tongue dangling out of her mouth. "So you have a good morning, girl?" He said and walked over to the refrigerator to look for something to eat. The small icebox was crammed with leftover take out. They didn't cook, no self respecting Japanese bachelor would. But thanks to Jounouchi, there was always more than enough take out for ten bachelors. Jounouchi could certainly eat a lot and buy a lot of cheap food too. "I should take you to the park sometime this week. You haven't been walked in days." He said trailing off to Blanky. "Its not good for your arthritis to just sit around in here. I should ask Jou to do it."

The dog cocked her head and walked stiffly back to the couch. She was old and arthritic and it would suit her just fine to simply sleep on the couch all day. She followed her still babbling master with her eyes. He was a nice boy but he really needed to stop acting like she was going to answer. Also to stop talking to her like she was his grandmother. Blanky lay her head down. BEEP! She shot up like a flash and backed to the end of the couch with a wimper.

"Jou, muted the answering machine again." Honda groaned and walked over.

Devil machine. Blanky thought to herself trying to calm down after un-muting the telephone recorder.

Honda looked down at the screen which had to flashing "1" illuminated. He shrugged as he pushed the button. He assumed it was his mother. She liked to check in on him what seemed like every thirty minutes, more or less.

"_Hey, Katsuya. Its Jounouchi Jiro. Its been a while... and you never seem to call. I'm in town and I want to see you. I know it was rough back in secondary school for you. You were never real good in your classes. It doesn't really matter now but... you running off and quitting... and getting in trouble. It doesn't matter anymore but... Don't know when you'll be home but call me back. I want to see you."_

Honda stopped dead. Jiro was Jounouchi's father. Jounouchi hadn't heard a thing from him in almost three years now. Thank God. It had taken a lot too. Honda didn't exactly know what to do about this but before he could completely come to any sense at all.

"Honda! Blanky!" Jounouchi said with an enormous grin as he came in the door of the apartment. "Don't stop staring at the answering machine on my account!" He said almost in a roar. He was a loud young man to say the least.

Honda looked up at him. If he weren't so loud, he wouldn't have noticed. "Huh?"

"Yeah! See Honda, when we're not here, people can leave a message. Do I have to slow down?" Jou said mockingly, leaning his chin on Honda's shoulder.

"Shut up!" Honda said shoving Jounouchi's head off of his shoulder.

Jounouchi grinned and chuckled to himself. "So why you staring at the phone? Did university finally break your brain? I told you school wasn't good for you."

Honda ignored him and sat down on the couch. He flicked on the television and began flicking at fast as he could looking for anything that wasn't Pokemon which seemed to be on every channel in the land of the rising sun. Jounochi cocked his head a little. It was a very dog-like gesture that he almost made when he was confused. Honda wasn't being himself today. "You just skipped Sumo."

"I don't wanna watch two fat guys jump on each other."

Jounouchi sighed indignantly. "That is not the Japanese half talking."

Honda stopped on an old Bruce Lee movie. He liked kung fu. Kung fu had people getting kicked in the face. He liked that.

Jounouchi fidgeted nervously. "Did I break something?"

"I don't know. Did you?" he said not looking away from the movie for a moment.

Jounouchi groaned and looked over at the answering machine. He idly pushed the replay button. The message played and Honda looked over at his friend nervously. "Is that it?"

"Yeah... that's it."

Jounouchi continued to look at the machine. His head hung slightly. "What d'you think he wants?"

"I don't think you should see him."

"Honda, what do you think he wants?"

"It took this long to get away from him, Jounouchi."

"Hiroto, that doesn't answer the question. What do you think my father wants?"

Honda sighed. "I can't answer that."

Jounouchi looked way for a moment. He was thinking. Honda couldn't answer that, naturally. He didn't know any better than him why his father had called. Jounouchi looked at the phone for a moment then picked up the receiver and dialed.

Honda got up angrily and pressed a button to cancel the call. He was only a few inches away from Jounouchi's face. He only had a few inches on him but he was going to make them count. "Jou, you don't need to call him. Just because he's your father doesn't mean he has the right to tell you what to do. Not after..."

Jounouchi almost snarled. Honda knew well enough not to mention that. Honda didn't back away right away but it wasn't long before Jounouchi's stare got the message across. "He's my father and I'm going to handle it. You go do your homework or something."

Honda backed up away from the phone and scowled. "You're making a mis..."

Jounouchi glared at him firmly.

Honda put his hands up and closed his eyes. "Fine. Don't listen to me. But you're setting yourself up Jonouchi Katsuya."

And with that, Honda turned his back, scooped up his books from the table and went into the other room. He was discontented, huffy almost, over it. He put up quite a show making sure Jounouchi noticed his disapprove.

Jounouchi shook his head. Honda had a tendency for that. The melodrama was something that Honda used to an end. He shrugged it off, dialed in the number and slouched leaning against the sofa. The phone rang in his ear several times. He didn't know what he would say. He hadn't seen the man in almost three years. The phone rang again. They hadn't ended it on the best note either. He had run off and just didn't come back home. It rang again. He assumed that Shizuka had told him what happened to him. He hadn't cut himself off from her. Click. Jounouchi suddenly felt a lump in his throat. Perhaps this was going to be harder than he thought. "Hey..." He could believe he had said that. His voice hadn't cracked since he was fourteen.

Jiro laughed nervously on the other end. It truly wasn't any easier for him than his son. The conversation would go like that. "So you go the message? I was a little worried you wouldn't call."

Jounouchi cleared his throat. "Yeah... it was on... the machine." He had started to sweat. It was embarrassing acting like this. Dishonorable and immature at best for him to act in this way.

"Yeah... I left a message. I'm in town Katsuya. I've all ready seen your sister, she seemed happy to see me..." There was an awkward silence as if he didn't know where to begin. "I wanted to see you sometime soon. Its been a few years and... we need to sort this out. To fix it between us."

Jounouchi winced at the mentioning of reconciliation. Things were so much easier just hating him and having it done with but this. "If my sister wants me to..."

"She does. She thinks we can work things out."

Jounouchi squirmed and cleared his throat. "Just one lunch Katsuya. One lunch to hear me out. For your sister."

"For my sister." Jounouchi said heavily. He couldn't say no to Shizuka; even if, it was his father she asked for.

"Good." Jiro said with a sigh of relief. "It'll go well, Katsuya. It will."

"Yeah... bye Jiro."

"Bye... Katsuya."

Jounouchi cocked his head over his shoulder and walked over to the bedroom door. He pulled it open quickly sending Honda toppling over himself onto the floor. "Nice, Honda."

Honda hurried to his feet and brushed himself off. "What for Shizuka?"

"Nothing.. besides it's none of your business. This is my father. I'll handle it."

Honda snarled. "You shouldn't do whatever it is you're thinking about doing. Don't you remember before when you were living with him."

Jounouchi couldn't gauge how to respond. Honda wasn't out of line on this one.

"Shizuka doesn't know what happened. If she didn't, she wouldn't be.. whatever she's asking! She doesn't know, Jou."

Jounouchi looked down for a moment. He was thinking not an altogether common hobby for the young man but desperate times call for desperate measures. "Its one lunch. Its not going to be anything. Shizuka just wants me to have lunch with him."

Honda sighed and crossed his arms. "What about you?"

"Its for Shizuka. She needs me to do it."

Honda nodded. Jounouchi had that stubborn Japanese honor to a fault. He loved that. "I suppose she does." Honda sighed again. "Just don't expect miracles, Jounouchi. Not with Jounouchi Jiro."

Jounouchi grinned and chuckled.

"What is it?"

"You heard me on the phone?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"I sounded as awkward as you do."

Honda fumed. "I do not."

Jounouchi grinned mischievously. "You act do so. You talk like a teenage girl on the phone. Which explains your disinterest in only the greatest sport on television which happens to be on NHK right now."

"You and your sumo."

"Best... sport... ever."

"Whatever, Jou."

* * *

Review if you like. I love to hear from everyone.


	2. Unsolved For Now

**Disclaimer: **Yugioh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi, Jump Comics, Shonen Jump, 4Kids and Funimation I assume. All I do is twist it any way I please.

**A/N: **A buddyshipping and Jounouchi background fic. I had to do it. I mean it is only the greatest pairing the world has ever known and Mr. J needs attention.

Proof I watch WAY too much Doctor Keith. But that I also hate Jou's mum with the fiery intensity of a thousand suns. Enjoy.

**But That Was Then  
****Chapter 2: Unsolved For Now**

_Jounouchi Katsuya and Jiro sat anxiously in the police station. It had been stupid way too stupid. Jiro was still too drunk to notice to much of what was going on. Katsuya was not so lucky. _

"_Do you know what kind of trouble you can get me into bringing opium into this house!?!" Jiro said slamming his junior into the door of the apartment which flew open. Katsuya landed in the hallway outside. He quickly reeled though and came after Jiro. Katsuya slammed into his father grabbing him by the upper arms. Jiro staggered but held himself up as he grabbed his son's arms. The two grappled until they ended up in the hallway shoving and clawing at one another in the hallway of the apartment complex. Katsuya had landed the hardest banging his forehead on the lower wall. He sneered under his breath and tackled his senior. "It's not opium, you idiot!"_

_The argument didn't seem to convince Jiro as it was only met with a firm swing at his face. Katsuya wove away and shoved the man_. _Jiro grabbed at his son finally catching him in a headlock . "What do you think I am stupid, Katsuya?"_

_Katsuya was wrestling with whether to answer, debatable. It wasn't really an option though. Katsuya slipped on the top stair as he tried to wiggle his way from Jiro. Both toppled over each other down the stairway. By now, several tenants had come out to see what all of the yelling in the hall was about. It wasn't uncommon for the sound of Jounouchi Jiro to be heard but it wasn't normally followed by so much clatter._ _"Maybe if you got a job, you wouldn't be so nosey with me?!"_

_That definitely snapped something in Jiro's brain. He snarled and lashed out shoving his son down the next flight of stairs. Katsuya was sounding just like his mother always bringing it back to his job jumping. Both of them knew what the economy was and they still dug in on it. "Get back up, KATSUYA!" _

_Jiro was standing over him. Katsuya yelled out angrily grabbing onto his father's ankle and tossing him down onto the floor and started attacking him again. _

_By that time, several more tenants had emerged out of confusion. Several were scared at that point and two larger men tore Jiro and Katsuya off of each other. "Come down you two!"_

_Jiro and Katsuya snapped out of it and looked around. A rather large number of residents were gathered in shock and confusion looking at them. A young mother seemed to have been trying to make sure her young children weren't in the halls. Several other teenagers were huddled in trying to see the fight as their parents were too shocked to wrangle them._ _They could hear comments like about Katsuya's age and how intoxicated Jiro was._

_The police had arrived shortly after and had taken them to the station. Katsuya at this point was falling over himself with anxiety. He turned slightly to see himself in the reflection of the window. His left eye was almost completely red besides this marble shaped deep brown iris and his forehead was badly cut. Jiro wasn't any better off. Katsuya restrained a whimper. He hadn't even felt it. He would have shut up if he knew he was hurt but he still couldn't feel it. His eye should be throbbing like mad but it felt fine. They were going to drug test him and he would fail. Add to that the time for assault. Man.. He was in trouble. They have the death penalty in this country. _

_An officer emerged with something that looked like paperwork on a clipboard. He looked over the two. Katsuya tried to avoid looking at him. Please don't let him know me from my record in primary school. Jiro didn't let the officer pay much attention to Katsuya though. "I don't know what you think happened but this was all a big misunderstanding. Me and the boy fell down a flight of stairs."_

_Katsuya looked up but only with his eyes. He was feeling sick and he didn't want to encourage an investigation. "The witnesses said you were 'fighting'. Now I don't usually pry but isn't he a minor?"_

_Katsuya flinched. Jiro shot him a look out of the corner of his eyes. He then smiled to the officer. "My neighbors were exaggerating. We live on the end of the hall on the third floor. I was out for saki. Katsuya came out to see what was going on, I slipped_,_ he tried to help me and we both fell down the stairs." Jiro paused at the gaze of the officer. "He's sixteen years old. I'm not about to get into a fist fight with a sixteen year old child."_

_The officer sighed and looked from Jiro to Katsuya. The kid looked off way rattled to death probably from being dragged into the station after the fall and the father's story seemed clean. The policeman sighed and turned to the other officer. "What do you think, Uyeda?"_

_Uyeda was standing_ _across the room with a cup of coffee. He stirred it as he thought to himself. "It did look like they were fighting when we got there but I don't know. The stairway was right there." He paused for a moment. "I think someone just got a little hysterical on us."_

_The officer with the clipboard turned back to the two men. "Well I'm going to let you off with a warning. If nothing else, you were disturbing the peace. It's a 20,000 yen fine."_

_Jiro leered at Katsuya and Katsuya looked away quickly. It was going to be a long night._

Katsuya got out of the bus at the stop where he said he'd meet Jiro. His stomach was cramping and he was sweating bullet by that point. He had to calm down. It was lunch. Just a stupid little lunch that shouldn't be happening. Katsuya reeled on himself again. He had to calm down. It was nothing.

He sat down quietly on the bench. A businessman was next to him checking his stocks on this mobile phone. Katsuya only looked out of the corner of his eye. He and Honda were probably the only two people in the world without a mobile phone. It was actually kind of embarrassing to say he didn't own one. He'd have to look into it. It couldn't be anywhere near as expensive as Honda leads on.

He sighed to himself and fidgeted his feet. He idly watched them, his head hung a little. "Katsuya?"

Katsuya's head shot up right away. A thinner, cleaner and more well groomed version of his father was standing beside the bench. Katsuya just sat for a moment, his mouth slightly a gape and blinked in confusion. He knew his father. His father was an unshaven, disheveled alcoholic who rarely what on a clean shirt. "J-jiro...?"

Jiro smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, it's me. I guess I should have warned you."

Katsuya was still reeling from the shock of his father actually looking like a member of society. He blinked several more times before he said anything. "You... gonna buy lunch?"

Jiro tried not to laugh as he looked over his son. Katsuya was not the most put together person in the world. That was for sure. He was wearing a Gacht t-shirt under a greenish jacket and rather unkept jeans. He still had the same shoes from secondary school, the one's with the knife cut. He also had a pair of dog tags on with something scratched onto it. That was his boy though to the letter. "Yeah..." Jiro said and looked over. "How does ramen sound?"

Katsuya shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, I guess. You know a place around here?" Katsuya asked dully looking around.

"Yeah... down here." Jiro said and began walking.

Katsuya followed with his hands in the pockets of this dull grenade colored coat. Both didn't speak until they reached the ramen bar on the end of the block. Katsuya sat down slouching with his arms resting on the counter. Jiro sat up awkwardly straight and sighed to himself. He flagged down the cook and ordered two bowls. Both men sighed and Jiro scratched the back of his head. "Shizuka is doing well."

Katsuya nodded. "Yeah... she's in her first year at school."

"Ha... I didn't think any of the Jounouchi's would ever make it to university, did you?"

Katsuya grunted. "What just 'cause I didn't. Not like you're any genius." Katsuya flinched slightly.

Jiro squirmed alittle uncomfortably at the flinch. "Don't act like that, Katsuya."

Katsuya snorted. It was more involuntary than anything. A habit he had whenever he mouthed off to his father. "Yeah, we're in public, right?"

Jiro began to fume a little. He really wished he could have a drink at that point. "Hey! That was a long time ago, its not like you were perfect anyway brat." Not he wasn't allowed. "Now, I came all this way to see you. Even after all the trouble you caused for me when you were growing up."

Katsuya snarled. "Oh yeah, you're just some poor over stressed parent with a problem child. Who just happened to try to bash my head in from time to time. I guess it was my fault you gambled Shizuka's tuition and couldn't stay sober long enough to get a job. Sorry for being such a burden."

Jiro really wanted a drink. He felt like screwing that lovely forty day mark he'd invested in. "The economy was in the hole. There wasn't any... Why am I even telling you this? That was a long time ago, I don't drink anymore. Just ask your sister. Or even better, your mother, even she isn't whining about it anymore. So don't give me any of that about..."

Katsuya felt like someone had ripped his stomach in half. He had more than enough to say to him but somehow he couldn't bring himself to. The whole idea of Jiro not drinking was insane. Jiro was a drunk. That was that. He was glad that the ramen was finished. He didn't have to talk to him when he was eating.

Jiro took a breath and looked over at his son. He really did look a lot like him. He reminded him a lot of him too. Never finishing school. Working wherever he could. "Katsuya..."

Katsuya didn't look at Jiro. He was focusing more on making sure that he kept his lunch down being as angry as he was.

"Katsuya, don't act like that. I came down here because... I wanted to see you. You're my son." Jiro paused nervously. "I see a whole lot more of your sister than I do of you."

"She doesn't know any better."

Jiro tried not to be bothered. Katsuya was like that almost always with him. "I never did anything to Shizuka and I never will, you know that."

Katsuya couldn't argue with that Shizuka had never received any of the wrath which was Jounouchi Jiro and never would. She was his favorite, his little girl. "Why didn't you keep her if she was fine with us?"

Jiro slutched a little. It was obviously an unhappy topic for him. "Your mother insisted on taking her. I think she was trying to get back at me for something. I can't remember. I told her that if she was going to take my little girl than to take you too but she wasn't having it."

Katsuya took a deep breath. It wouldn't have hurt as much if it had been in the legal fight or if it was because his father was some heartless drunk, no that wouldn't have been so bad at all. It would just of been another notch in the belt of the Jounouchi's messy divorce. However, that wasn't the case. "You separated us to get back at each other. How could you? How could my mother!?! How could you!?!"

Jiro was snapped out of it. He revealed what he had just blurted out. Katsuya didn't have to know that. He didn't have to know that at all. He didnt' have to know that his mother had done more to ruin his life than he knew and that he hadn't done anything but get himself smashed even more than before. He didn't have to know. "Katsuya..."

"Shizuka almost went blind! She sent a letter saying that she wanted to see me. What were you going to tell her? You can't because I had a fight with your mother?!"

"Katsuya..."

"She used to say that she missed the beach too."

"Katsuya..."

"And that she wanted to see you."

"Katsuya..."

"She said that she missed you. She always asked. Always. Even when I told her not to."

Jiro winced and rubbed his forehead. "I don't have anything to say, Katsuya. It wasn't right. Your mother and I didn't do anything right for you two kids." Jiro paused. "And you got the worst of it. I'm not surprised your sister isn't as angry. Or isn't angry at all."

"She gets sad more than angry. I was always the one that got angry." Katsuya sighed to himself. "Are you sorry for what you did, Jiro?"

Jiro looked at Katsuya squarely. The man was dead serious as he looked his son in the eyes. "It was a messy divorce."

* * *

Please review if you like it. I love hearing from you.


	3. Troubles Remerge

**Disclaimer: **Yugioh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi, Jump Comics, Shonen Jump, 4Kids and Funimation I assume. I just add Jew Hiro. 

**A/N: **A buddyshipping and Jounouchi background fic. I had to do it. I mean it is only the greatest pairing the world has ever known and Mr. J needs attention.

This is my racism is bad chapter. I have one in just about everything I write in one way or another. It seems to shove its way in. Besides the obvious, racism is bad message, I would like to say that there is some rather obvious corpeal punishment in this chapter. Now in Asia, hitting children and often is still widely accepted and used by most teachers. Not often but then not many Japanese students misbehave the way western students do. Just a warning for anyone who is offended. I have a tendency to get upset when I read or see children hit (ToS actually really does offend me in some places) so I'm giving a heads up.

Behold Jewish Honda.

**But That Was Then  
****Chapter 3: Troubles Remerge**

_Honda slouched as he walked into his primary school. He was only twelve and had around outgrown all of the sizes of school uniform. He was forced to wear a tailored down version of one of his brother's. It looked different than the other kids and he had enough trouble being taller than everyone else without having a different uniform. He pulled off his shoes and replaced them with one's for the classroom._ _He looked over to see Jounouchi shoving and snarling at a boy twice his size._ _The other boy really didn't seem interested in fighting with the junior but that had never stopped Jounouchi before. He was a lot like one of those junkyard dogs that always fought for no good reason. "Jounouchi!" Honda said approaching with a smile._

_Jounouchi turned quickly and grinned at the other boy. "Honda! What are you wearing?"_

_Honda blushed and looked down. "I outgrew another one."_

_Jounouchi pulled back a little. "Are you kidding? You have to stop growing. You're going to be a freaking giant."_

_Honda growled. "Shut up! You're just a dwarf that's all."_

_Jounouchi snarled and pulled the taller boy into a headlock. "Whose a dwarf now!?"_

_Honda squirmed violently trying to get away from the smaller boy. It didn't do him any good. Jounouchi was far stronger than him to say the least and tougher to boot. "Uncle! Uncle!!" With that Jounouchi let him go and shoved him away. "I can't help it if I keep growing. Every one in this school is still under forty kilos. I can't help it."_

_Jounouchi grinned. "Admit it Honda, you're a freakin' giant. You'll be as tall as the senior students at this rate."_

_Honda groaned. "I hope not."_

_The day preceded as it always did. He went to his classes, took notes, took tests, was pestered by Jounouchi for answers and caught by the teachers. Jounouchi was his closest friend. He had met him in years ago. He was the only boy big enough to actually shove Jounouchi back. It made quite the impression on him and they had been thick as thieves ever since. Jounouchi wasn't what he'd call a "problem child" persay. He was spirited for sure and aggressive. He was one of the only students that the teachers had hit in class. He was surprised Jounouchi still had all of his fingers after all the whacks he got. He didn't know why Jounouchi pushed it so much. Even the friendly assault from that morning was overly abrasive. If Honda weren't so hard up for friends, he probably would have avoided him like most of this classmates._

"_Hey Honda!" Jounouchi ran up behind the taller boy. "Harutani says he would look into having you join."_

_Honda looked at the other boy half confused. Hirutani was the leader of the small gang that Jounouchi often tagged along with. "I don't know Jou. He's..."_

_Jounouchi rolled his eyes. "Fine... I just thought you were more of a tough guy being so big."_

_Honda groaned to himself._

"_I mean you're huge. You're as tall as the upperclassmen." Jounouchi looked over at his friend for a moment. Honda was slouched slightly and his head hung slightly. Jounouchi grinned and shoved the other boy. "Hey! Ya know, there probably wasn't anything open anyway. I mean we aren't always open and how good is my word anyway."_

_Honda smirked. "Worth about as much as your grade point."_

"_What!" Jounouchi snarled and tackled the taller boy. Jounouchi had always been stronger than the other boy despite his size. _

_Honda fell looking around carefully. He really didn't want to get into trouble with any of the teachers. "Jounouchi, get off! You'll get me in trouble!"_

_Jounouchi grinned in satisfaction stopped pinning the other boy. "Big, bad Honda is afraid of the teachers. You're definitely not cut out for Harutani's gang. He'd eat you alive."_

_Honda got to his feet with a nervous look. "He's really that tough?"_

_Jounouchi grinned. "Yeah, they say he'll be in the Yakuza by sixteen and his whole gang too. He does all kinds of stuff that most gangs won't. They're the toughest in Domino." _

_Honda felt an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. He knew Jounouchi well or better than most but he knew little to nothing about what he did most of the time with Harutani. He was beginning to think that he didn't want to know. "Jounouchi, that's dangerous. We're not even senior students yet. It's dangerous."_

_Jounouchi smirked over at his friend. "Yeah, yeah. I'll see you later."_

_Classes passed the way they always did._ _Honda scurried between classes, scribbled down notes and tried to stay out of trouble. He was only in one class with Jounouchi. It was always tense being in a class with Jounouchi. He made trouble. He did things that most didn't dare in class. It wasn't tolerated of course but there wasn't much that could be done to the boy. The teacher had done the usual thing. He'd hit his knuckled with a ruler. Jounouchi only egged him on. He had broken a pointer over his head once. Though that was hardly as dramatic as one incident where the teacher actually hit him so hard he fractured his hand once. Honda had been shocked. So was the rest of the class. Jounouchi only smiled at him and eyed the rest of the class. Honda had to admit that whole incident had seriously rattled the teacher. Humiliation was the most common punishment and it didn't phase Jounouchi. Harutani had loved that one from what Jounouchi had said. _

_That day was different though. Jounouchi was later than he was. He usually liked to be the first one in so he could flirt with the girl as they came in and tease Honda if he didn't greet him. He wasn't there though. Harutani was though. Harutani was a year older than both of them and really had no reason to be hanging around their classroom. He was though. He was standing to the right of the door leaning on the frame. He wasn't really doing anything or even bothering any of his classmates as they went. But it still made him uneasy. _

_Honda approached the entry to the classroom. He was a little taller than Hautani. Not that it mattered. Harutani had been known to challenge senior students and they were twice Honda's size. "Hey, you're Honda aren't you?"_

_Honda stopped dead. His complection changed from a fair bronze to almost pure white and his stomach seemed to do a somersault. The rather thuggish boy was staring right at him. "Y-yeah, I'm..."_

"_Jounouchi's friend, right?"_

_Honda calmed a little. Jounouchi had said something about mentioning him to Harutani. He said he was going to then said he was a loser. Jounouchi... "Yeah, I'm Honda Hiroto. I've known Jou since we were in..."_

"_Yeah, yeah." Harutani said quickly and put his hand on Honda's shoulder. "Jounouchi said you were interested in... my little social group."_

_Honda looked down at the floor. "Your gang."_

"_You could call it that. He said you were interested. A big guy like you would be a valuable asset if you know what I mean." Harutani smirked._

_Honda bowed and shook his head. "I'm sorry but I'm not the type. I'm really not as tough as I look." He said politely and turned to go to his class._

_Harutani frowned and grabbed Honda hard by the shoulder. "Come on, Honda. I'm sure you're being modest." Harutani said and pulled Honda over to a group that one would only assume to be his gang. They all appeared to be thuggish with unkept hair and messy uniforms. If he hadn't known about their reputation, which he did, he may have equated them to Jounouchi. _

_Honda resisted trying to get away from Harutani who was still holding him rather tightly by the shoulder. "Really, I'm not. I'm not that tough at all. I'm just... really... tall." It was then that he knew he was in trouble. The gang members' smirks didn't help either. _

_Before he could say anything else, he was shoved into the restroom and the door was shut behind him. He looked around nervously. Harutani's gang were all in the restroom as well and were eyeing him. It wasn't long before they came down on him. There weren't many options for escape and fighting would have been hard enough if it weren't seven against one._ _Harutani grabbed Honda by the back of the neck and slammed his face against the sink. Honda was almost sure that his nose was broken. There was quite a bit of blood in the sink. He could hear the other gang members laughing with eachother behind him_.

"_Did you honestly think that you could join our gang?" Harutani snarled. Honda couldn't see him. He was still holding the back of his neck._ "_We're in this for the long haul and we can't have some dirty little halfblood screwing that up."_

_Harutani shoved Honda over. He hit his head on another sink on the way down. He pulled himself up_. _He didn't want to join the stupid gang in the first place and now he's holding them back. He pulled himself up quickly and slugged Harutani hard in the face. "I never wanted to join in the first place!"_

_Harutani turned slightly. He was glaring daggers at Honda and so was the rest of his gang. "That was smart, Jew." Several of them cracked their knuckles and two rolled up their sleeves. _

_Honda whimpered. He really didn't see a way out of this one. "Who you calling a Jew?" Honda turned quickly. Jounouchi had just come into the bathroom. "I thought I told you to lay off Honda." He said and cracked his knuckles._

_Several gang members scurried out of the way. Jounouchi had quite the reputation. "For one thing, this isn't any of your business Jounouchi and even if it were, hanging around with halfbloods doesn't exactly make for a good resume. The big dogs don't want someone with that kind of reputation."_

"_Can it!" Jounouchi said and slugged the closest gang member. He knocked him right out. All but Harutani and the now unconscious boy who was on the floor. "Look Harutani, Honda's my boy and if you don't like it stay away from him!"_

_Harutani glared at him. "Forget it. I thought you were serious Jounouchi. I guess I was wrong." Harutani said and stalked out of the bathroom._

Honda waited nervously waiting for Jounouchi to get back. He still thought that the whole idea was a bad one. There were a rare few that he trusted with Jounouchi's emotions. Jiro was not one of them. The man from as far as he knew was a self-centered jerk who didn't care either way about Jounouchi. The whole idea of him showing up to make nice boiled Honda. Jounouchi was getting things together. He was making headway and then Jiro came in. It was frustrating to say the least.

Honda turned then he heard the door open. Jounouchi walked in followed closely by Jiro. Jounouchi didn't seem too upset. That was a relief and Jiro was well, clean. It didn't feel right. Honda walked over to Jounouchi and grinned. "So how was lunch?"

Before Jounouchi could answer Jiro chimed in. "Who's this?"

Jounouchi turned to Honda who was resting his elbow on Jou's shoulder. "This is Honda. Honda Hiroto. You met him before."

Jiro was giving Honda a rather unpleasant look.

"Why?"

"No reason. I just didn't think that you would be... he surprised me."

Jounouchi squirmed a little under Honda's elbow.

"It's good to see you have _different _friends." Jiro said trying to smile. He was obviously uncomfortable.

"Yeah... I geuss."

* * *

Please don't flame me.


End file.
